America Doesn’t Need Trump to Stay in the Paris Agreement: Without Earth there is no ‘America’

Even though Donald Trump has elected to bail from the Paris Climate Accord, in reality, all he did was tell the world he doesn’t give a [expletive] about planet Earth. While Trump campaigned on his “America First” ideology, we must remember that without Earth, there is no “America”.

Foreign leaders get this. Heck, even Vladimir Putin and Iran are members of the Paris Agreement. Good or bad, Democracy or Tyranny, Christian or Muslim, everyone seems to understand the importance of protecting our environment. Everyone except for Donald Trump and his minority group of supporters.

Just like the Yankees couldn’t be the Yankees without Major League Baseball, and the Ku Klux Klan couldn’t be the KKK without the rights afforded to them in the Constitution of the United States, America can not survive without protecting our planet.

As much bitterness and resentment that has been exuded by those in disagreement with President Trump over his unpopular decision, there is still plenty to be hopeful for. Most notably, America doesn’t need Donald Trump’s blessing in order to uphold its responsibility to the rest of the world. America is not Donald Trump. America is the 321.4 million people who live within our borders. We are the ones who determine if we will take action to protect our environment. We are the ones who will decide if we choose green technology over fossil fuels. We are the people who will help the world protect the lands which stand to be wiped away by rising sea waters.

State and local governments still have a choice of upholding the main points of the Paris Agreement. They have the choice of creating laws and enforcing them in order to encourage the reduction of green house gases, and thankfully many have already promised to do so. Anyone can pledge to follow suit.